Srimad Bhagavad Gita – all 700 Shlokas Organised by Theme
Below, all 700 shlokas of the Bhagavad Gita are organised into 10 thematic categories, with each shloka listed by its chapter and verse number (e.g., 1.1) and its one-sentence English translation. The themes are: Arjuna’s Dilemma, Nature of the Soul, Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Dhyana Yoga, Three Gunas, Krishna’s Divine Nature, Divine and Demonic Qualities, and Liberation. Each theme includes relevant shlokas, covering all 18 chapters and 700 verses.
1. Arjuna’s Dilemma
This theme covers Arjuna’s emotional turmoil, moral conflict, and surrender to Krishna for guidance, primarily in Chapter 1 and parts of Chapter 2.
1.1: Dhritarashtra asks Sanjaya what his sons and the Pandavas are doing on the Kurukshetra battlefield.
1.2: Sanjaya describes Duryodhana approaching Drona to assess the armies.
1.3: Duryodhana praises Drona’s pupils and notes the strength of both armies.
1.4-6: Duryodhana lists the mighty warriors in the Pandava army, including Yudhishthira and Bhima.
1.7-8: Duryodhana names the key warriors in his own army, like Bhishma and Karna.
1.9-11: Duryodhana boasts of his army’s readiness to protect Bhishma in battle.
1.12: Bhishma blows his conch to inspire Duryodhana’s forces.
1.13: Kaurava conches, drums, and trumpets resound, creating a tumultuous noise.
1.14: Krishna and Arjuna blow their divine conches in response.
1.15-18: Pandava warriors, including Bhima and Yudhishthira, sound their conches, shaking the earth.
1.19: The Pandava conches’ roar disheartens the Kaurava army.
1.20: Arjuna, on his chariot with Hanuman’s banner, prepares to fight.
1.21-22: Arjuna asks Krishna to place the chariot between the armies to see his foes.
1.23: Arjuna wishes to observe the warriors gathered for battle.
1.24-25: Krishna positions the chariot before Bhishma, Drona, and others, urging Arjuna to behold them.
1.26-27: Arjuna sees relatives, teachers, and friends in both armies, causing distress.
1.28: Arjuna feels compassion and sorrow at the sight of his kin ready to fight.
1.29: Arjuna’s limbs tremble, and his mind reels from the thought of battle.
1.30: Arjuna’s bow slips as he is overwhelmed by grief and confusion.
1.31: Arjuna sees evil omens and feels no desire for victory.
1.32-33: Arjuna questions the value of winning a kingdom by killing loved ones.
1.34-35: Arjuna laments facing teachers, fathers, and sons in battle.
1.36: Arjuna fears sin from killing kinsmen, even if they attack first.
1.37-38: Arjuna worries that destroying the family will ruin dharma and invite sin.
1.39: Arjuna foresees the corruption of family traditions due to war.
1.40: Arjuna warns that family destruction leads to societal moral decay.
1.41: Arjuna fears that intermingling castes will doom ancestors to fall.
1.42: Arjuna predicts eternal suffering for those who destroy family dharma.
1.43: Arjuna laments that family-killing leads to the ruin of sacred laws.
1.44: Arjuna is horrified by the greed-driven desire to slay kin.
1.45: Arjuna prefers death over fighting his own relatives.
1.46: Arjuna drops his bow, overcome by sorrow, unwilling to fight.
1.47: Arjuna sits in despair, his heart heavy with grief.
2.1: Sanjaya describes Arjuna’s tearful despair as Krishna begins to speak.
2.2: Krishna rebukes Arjuna’s weakness, urging him to rise above dishonor.
2.3: Krishna tells Arjuna to abandon cowardice and uphold his warrior duty.
2.4: Arjuna questions how he can fight revered elders like Bhishma and Drona.
2.5: Arjuna prefers begging to killing his gurus for fleeting gains.
2.6: Arjuna doubts whether victory or defeat is better, as he faces kin.
2.7: Arjuna, confused, surrenders to Krishna as his disciple, seeking guidance.
2.8: Arjuna sees no way to dispel his grief, even with worldly success.
2.9: Arjuna refuses to fight, awaiting Krishna’s counsel.
2.10: Krishna smiles and begins teaching Arjuna amidst the armies.
Total: 43 shlokas
2. Nature of the Soul
This theme explores the eternal, indestructible nature of the soul, distinct from the body, primarily in Chapters 2, 13, and 15.
2.11: Krishna says the wise do not grieve for the living or dead, as the soul is eternal.
2.12: Krishna explains that souls exist forever, beyond birth and death.
2.13: The soul transitions through bodies, like changing clothes, without perishing.
2.14: Sensory experiences are fleeting, and one must endure them patiently.
2.15: The steadfast, unaffected by pleasure or pain, attain immortality.
2.16: The unreal has no existence, while the real never ceases to be.
2.17: The soul, pervading the body, is indestructible and eternal.
2.18: Bodies are perishable, but the soul within is eternal and immeasurable.
2.19: Neither the slayer nor the slain is truly killed, as the soul endures.
2.20: The soul is never born nor dies, remaining eternal and unchanging.
2.21: Knowing the soul’s immortality, one should not grieve over its indestructibility.
2.22: The soul discards old bodies and takes new ones, like worn-out garments.
2.23: Weapons, fire, water, and wind cannot destroy the eternal soul.
2.24: The soul is unbreakable, unburnable, insoluble, and everlasting.
2.25: The soul is invisible, inconceivable, and unchanging, beyond grief.
2.26: Even if the soul seems perishable, one should not mourn its cycles.
2.27: Death is certain for the born, and birth follows death, so avoid sorrow.
2.28: Beings are unmanifest before birth, manifest in life, and unmanifest after death.
2.29: Few perceive the soul’s wonder, and fewer can describe it.
2.30: The soul within all beings is eternal, so do not grieve for any creature.
13.2: Krishna says the body is the field, and the soul is its knower.
13.3: True knowledge is understanding the field and its knower.
13.5-6: The field includes elements, senses, mind, and their modifications.
13.19: Nature and spirit are beginningless, producing effects and gunas.
13.20: Nature causes action, while spirit experiences pleasure and pain.
13.21: The soul, entangled in nature, faces karmic consequences.
13.22: The soul is the witness, guide, and supreme self within.
13.27: All existence arises from the union of field and knower.
13.28: Seeing the Lord equally in all beings leads to the supreme.
13.29: The self, actionless, is free from nature’s effects.
13.30: Seeing all beings as one in Brahman brings liberation.
13.31: The eternal soul, unchanging, is free from action.
13.32: Like space, the soul pervades all without being tainted.
13.33: The soul illuminates the field, like the sun lights the world.
13.34: Knowing the distinction between field and knower leads to liberation.
15.7: The soul, a fragment of Krishna, is trapped by senses.
15.8: The soul carries mind and senses across bodies.
15.9: The soul governs senses like hearing and sight.
15.10: The deluded cannot see the soul’s journey through bodies.
15.11: Yogis with effort perceive the soul; the impure cannot.
Total: 40 shlokas
3. Karma Yoga
This theme focuses on selfless action, duty without attachment, and sacrifice, primarily in Chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, and 18.
2.31: As a Kshatriya, Arjuna must uphold his duty to fight righteously.
2.32: Warriors who fight such a battle gain heaven’s glory.
2.33: Abandoning duty brings dishonor and loss of fame.
2.34: People will scorn Arjuna forever if he shirks his duty.
2.35: Great warriors will mock Arjuna’s fear as cowardice.
2.36: Enemies will slander Arjuna, causing greater pain than death.
2.37: Arjuna will gain heaven if killed or victory if he fights.
2.38: Fight with equanimity, treating victory and defeat equally, to avoid sin.
2.47: Act without attachment to results, focusing only on duty.
2.48: Perform actions with equanimity, unaffected by success or failure.
2.49: Selfless action surpasses desire-driven work, seeking refuge in wisdom.
2.50: A wise person transcends both good and evil deeds through yoga.
2.51: The wise, detached from results, attain liberation from rebirth.
3.1: Arjuna asks why Krishna urges fighting if wisdom is superior.
3.2: Arjuna seeks clarity, confused by Krishna’s mixed instructions.
3.3: Krishna explains two paths: knowledge for ascetics, action for yogis.
3.4: Freedom from karma comes not from inaction but from selfless action.
3.5: No one can remain inactive, as nature compels action.
3.6: Pretending to control senses while craving them is hypocrisy.
3.7: Controlling senses and acting selflessly is the superior path.
3.8: Perform prescribed duties, as action is better than inaction.
3.9: Selfless action as sacrifice frees one from karmic bondage.
3.10: Brahma created beings with sacrifices to fulfill desires.
3.11: Honor gods through sacrifices, and they will reciprocate.
3.12: Enjoying without offering sacrifices is akin to theft.
3.13: Eating sanctified food from sacrifices purifies the righteous.
3.14: Living beings depend on food, sustained by rain and sacrifice.
3.15: Sacrifice, ordained by Vedas, arises from action and Brahman.
3.16: Ignoring the cycle of sacrifice leads to a wasted life.
3.17: The self-realized, content in the self, have no duties.
3.18: The wise act without personal motives, free from dependence.
3.19: Perform duties selflessly to attain the supreme goal.
3.20: Great kings like Janaka achieved perfection through selfless action.
3.21: People follow the example of great leaders’ actions.
3.22: Krishna, though free from duties, acts for the world’s welfare.
3.23: If Krishna ceased acting, people would follow and fall.
3.24: Krishna’s inaction would lead to chaos and destruction.
3.25: The wise act selflessly to guide the ignorant.
3.26: The wise should not disturb the ignorant but inspire action.
3.27: Actions arise from gunas, yet the ego claims doership.
3.28: Knowing gunas’ interplay, the wise remain unattached.
3.29: The wise should not confuse those swayed by gunas.
3.30: Dedicate all actions to Krishna, free from desire and ego.
3.31: Following Krishna’s teachings leads to freedom from karma.
3.32: Ignoring Krishna’s teachings traps one in delusion.
3.33: Even the wise act according to their nature.
3.34: Attachment to senses binds; one must overcome them.
3.35: Following one’s own duty is better than another’s, even if imperfect.
3.36: Arjuna asks what compels one to sin despite resistance.
3.37: Krishna identifies desire and anger, born of Rajas, as the enemy.
3.38: Desire veils wisdom like smoke covers fire or dust obscures a mirror.
3.39: Desire, the eternal foe, consumes even the wise.
3.40: Desire resides in senses, mind, and intellect, clouding knowledge.
3.41: Control senses first to conquer desire’s destructive force.
3.42: Senses are superior to the body, mind over senses, intellect over mind, and soul above all.
3.43: Knowing the soul’s supremacy, conquer desire with disciplined intellect.
4.14: Krishna, unattached to actions, is untouched by karma.
4.15: Ancient sages, knowing this, acted without attachment.
4.16: Krishna clarifies the nature of action and inaction.
4.17: Understanding action, forbidden action, and inaction is complex.
4.18: Seeing inaction in action and action in inaction is true wisdom.
4.19: The wise act without desire, burning karma in wisdom’s fire.
4.20: Detached from results, the content rely on nothing external.
4.21: Free from possessiveness, the self-controlled act without bondage.
4.22: Content with whatever comes, the wise transcend duality.
4.23: Actions of the liberated, offered to Brahman, dissolve completely.
4.24: Sacrificial acts, dedicated to Brahman, merge with the divine.
5.7: The pure yogi, free from attachment, sees all as one.
5.8-9: The wise know they do nothing despite bodily actions.
5.10: Offering actions to Brahman, one is untouched by sin.
5.11: Yogis act with body and mind, detached from results.
1.24–25, 2.11, 4.5, 7.6, 9.11, 10.8, 11.32, 15.15, 18.61 Themes: Bhakti Yoga, Krishna’s Divine Nature Krishna: The Supreme Lord, incarnated as Arjuna’s charioteer and divine guide, delivering the Gita’s spiritual teachings. He reveals Himself as the eternal source, creator, and destroyer of all. Connection: Speaks in Chapters 1–18, primarily teaching…
This table maps all 700 shlokas of the Bhagavad Gita into 10 thematic categories, showing their distribution and overlaps among major philosophical themes. Sl. No. Theme Shlokas Total Overlaps 1 Arjuna’s Dilemma 1.1–1.47, 2.1–2.10 57 None 2 Nature of the Soul 2.11–2.30, 2.39, 2.55–2.57, 2.71–2.72, 3.42–3.43, ... 71 Jnana Yoga…
Chapter 1: Arjuna’s Dilemma (Arjuna Vishada Yoga) On the Kurukshetra battlefield, Dhritarashtra asks Sanjay about the actions of his and the Pandava armies. Sanjay describes Duryodhana assessing the Pandava forces and boasting about his own. As conch shells resound, Arjuna surveys both armies and is overwhelmed with grief at the…